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As 2013 came to a close, and with his 80th birthday mere weeks away, the godfather of British blues quietly entered a North Hollywood Studio with his band, special guest C.J. Chenier and co-producer/engineer Eric Corne. He walked out with one of the finest and most personal records of his career, A Special Life.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

As a Mayall fan of the original albums, I added John Mayall's albums back into the fold after 'Sense of Place' and I have every one since. 'Wake up call' is memorable for many reasons not the least for the guitar of Coco Montoya and Mick Taylor. The stand out tracks include 'Nature Disappearing' a rework of an earlier Mayall track which features the magical playing of Coco Montoya and 'Not at home' a great song featuring Mick Taylor. Also check out the live album 'Life in the jungle' as possibly the best Mayall album.

The best reason to buy this cd is to hear the guitar playing of Coco Montoya, Mayall's fabulous lead guitarist. Check out the soloing in songs like Maydell. Montoya is as smooth and fast as Eric Clapton playing the blues. A great addition to any blues collection.

I believe John Mayall's "Wake up call" (1993) is the best blues album I have ever heard. Compared to his "Blues for the lost days" (1997) or "Padlock on the blues" (1999), this album is superior in every way. The songs are quite unique and there's plenty of variation even it is blues all the way. Ever since Mayall released "Wake up call", he has gradually got worse and what used to be something thrilling have become just boring and not above mediocre standard at all. The follow up "Spinning coin" (1995) includes a couple of good songs like "When the devil starts crying" and "Ain't no brakeman", but on more recent releases you won't find any songs of the same calibre as "Mail order mystics", "Maydell", "Wake up call", "Undercover agent for the blues" or "Loaded dice". John Mayall's "Wake up call" is in some way comparable to Gary Moore's "Still got the blues", and if you like that one, I'm almost certain you'll like this one.

His Best "later years" one was the 'comeback' album, titled "Chicago Line" featuring BOTH Coco Montoya , AND Walter Trout .. who trade off nicely ..This collection ,"Wake Up Call' has a tasty re-working of a great earlier tune featured on the USA Union album, the track 'Natures Disappearing' is superbly re-done here, along with a wonderful Tony Joe White tune 'Undercover Agent'... Production is clean and fat sounding ..which makes this a great Cd for Mayall fans new , and old ... There is a Very Good collection of his work on this label available (Best Of Silvertone ) but 'Natures Disappearing' is not on there, which is a shame, as it's a worthy example of his best work, and deserves to be included on a best of compilation .

IMHO , after this album /Cd , the quality of his releases deteriorated somewhat ,and I really believe that John needs to try something a bit different,when considering a new set of tunes , or a new line -up, but we must remember he is in his 80's , and maybe he feels no need to try another formula ..I always liked his acoustic drummerless stuff (Turning Point , USA Union ,Memories ) and another Cd like that would be nice . The Harvey Mandel , Larry Taylor , Don Sugarcane Harris(RIP) Combo worked well for me and was unique,and well put together...and his "Back To The Roots" release is another favorite ...but ;he seems hell bent on trying to prove limitless stamina as he gets older; with that hard driving , lead guitar and rock rhythm section format ..Give us a nice melodic one John ! Train and The River .. Jimmy Guiffre' You know wot' i mean ..This Cd is one of the good un's .. well worth having , and a great listen thru , and thru ..